Dear reader,

Life expectancy is increasing. That will not be a surprising message for anyone, but it is important in how we think about education and development. In rich, industrialised countries, life expectancy for 50% of people born in 2007 is well over 100 years. Someone who is now 80 years old has about the same remaining life expectancy as a 65-year-old a century ago.

We are not only getting older, but fortunately we also remain an active part of society for longer. A working life of 70 years, or even longer, is no longer unthinkable. Young professionals now entering the labour market are expected to hold 17 different positions in five or six different sectors during their working lives. Functions and sectors that we may not even know about yet.

How could we shape education to match these developments? The traditional ‘we go to school, we have a working life, and we retire’ is going to change regardless. Perhaps it makes more sense to think in terms of various phases that people go through again at different times in their lives. Education no longer limited to pre-work life, but as a continuous process with relatively quiet periods of (further) learning in practice and additional knowledge gained in short-term training, alternating with periods of (complete) retraining. Lifelong Development (or LLD) as it has come to be called.

Within SBE we strongly believe in continuous training and development. A lifetime preferably. We have been offering high-quality programmes for professionals since 1957. We call this 'Executive Education', a portfolio with more than 80 different programmes. From part-time master's programmes within various fields to short-term programmes focused on specific developments such as sustainability, and from more generic programmes focused on leadership (such as an MBA) to programmes focused on specific developments within a sector (such as data and artificial intelligence within the public domain).

We hope you share our enthusiasm for LLD. This edition is full of inspiring stories and beautiful examples. Enjoy reading and perhaps see you soon in one of our programmes!

On behalf of the Faculty Board,

Bas Bosma Associate Dean Executive Education